Door control for refrigerators



Feb. 28, 1956 w. J. LAFFEY DOOR CONTROL FOR REFRIGERATORS Filed 001;.25, 1953 INVENTOR.

BY wan. fiiiorizec s.

United 9 DBOR CQNTROL FOR REFRIGERATORS William J. Laffey, Chicago, Ill.

Application October 23, 1953, Serial No. 387 ,98

1 Claim. (Cl. 292-338) My invention relates to large or commercialrefrigerators and like cabinets in which the doors are so massive thatthe momentum when they are pushed causes them to close into lockedposition, or where such doors are designed to close automatically. Ithas occurred at times refrigerator and allowed the door of the same toclose,

' that a young child gained access to the interior of the with fatalresults to the occupant.

When such a door closes it looks, and many commercial refrigerators andcabinets do not contain a device on the inside for unlocking the door.However, the presence of such a device would not be an aid where thechild locked in the refrigerator is so young as not to think of or lookfor a means of unlocking the door. In view of this situation, it is oneobject of the present invention to devise a means which prevents theclosing of the refrigerator door unless an auxiliary external control isactuated.

A further object is to provide a device which can be actuated only fromthe outside of the refrigerator in order to close the door.

Another object is to mount the auxiliary control preferably on top ofthe refrigerator, so that it will be at a high and very remote point forthe reach of a child attempting to enter the refrigerator while the sameis open, or of another child nearby.

An additional object is to design the novel control along lines ofsimplicity.

With the above object in view, a better understanding of the inventionmay be had by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which-- Fig. 1is a top plan view of a refrigerator equipped with the improved controlwhen the door is in the closed position;

Fig. 2 is a similar fragmental view when the door is partly open; and

Fig. 3 is a similar view, showing the door fully open.

In accordance with the foregoing, specific reference to the drawingindicates the cabinet of the refrigerator at and the door at 11. For thepurpose of the invention, the door receives a plate at the top, suchplate carrying a fastener 16 extended with an arcuate pawl 17 on oneside and a lever 18 on the other side. The fastener 16 is pivotedvertically on a bolt 19 secured in the plate 15; and the latter isattached to the door by screws 20 or other suitable means.

The top of the refrigerator cabinet 10 receives a plate 25 formed with aseries of ratchet teeth 26 at one side, such series being in an arcuatedirection; and the plate 25 is fastened to the top of the cabinet bybolts 23 or other suitable means.

When the door of the refrigerator is closed, the pawl 17 extends aroundthe rear side of the plate 25 and with its tooth 3i beyond the same; andit is pressed into engage ment with the series of teeth 26 by a leafspring 32 secured by bolts 33 to the door plate 15. When the door isswung open, such as to the position shown in Fig. 2, the pawl 17 isdrawn to engage its tooth 30 with the first or second tooth of the plate25, as shown; and, should the door be swung out to the wide-openposition shown in Fig. 3, the tooth of the pawl 17 will have fallen intothe last tooth of the plate 25, as shown.

With the door located in any open position, the engagement of the pawl17 with the toothed plate 25 locks the door from closing of itself orbeing pushed into closed position. However, when this is desired, it isonly necessary to push the lever 18 inwardly, this action causing thetooth 30 of the pawl 17 to recede from the plate 25 and permit the doorto be swung closed.

it is now apparent that it is impossible for a child entering therefrigerator or other cabinet equipped with the novel control to closethe door thereof without actuating the control. Obviously, the same isfar out of reach to a child entering the refrigerator; and, being on topof the latter, it is too far for another child to reach without specialeffort or means, so that the door cannot be closed until an adult personarrives to actuate the control. The invention therefore has a largemargin of safety, and may be depended upon to eliminate the danger firstmentioned. Besides, the control is of a very simple nature, and may beproduced and affixed at relatively small cost.

While I have described the invention along specific lines, various minorchanges or refinements may be made therein without department from itsprinciple, and I reserve the right to employ all such changes andrefinements as may come within the scope and spirit of the appendedclaim.

I claim:

In a cabinet having a vertically hinged door of the same height as saidcabinet, a curved rack providing a plurality of ratchet teeth mounted onthe top of said cabinet adjacent said hinged door, and a support mountedon the upper edge of said door adjacent said curved rack, theimprovement of; a fastener pivoted to said support comprising an arcuatepawl at one end thereof and a laterally UNITED STATES PATENTS 495,412Hiser Apr. 11, 1893 812,476 Becker Feb. 13, 1906 1,080,172 Rusk Dec. 2,1913 2,233,699 Gorrell Mar. 4, 1941

